


Finally

by sam4587



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Castiel/Dean Winchester First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Human Castiel (Supernatural), Hunt Gone Wrong, Hunter Castiel (Supernatural), Hunter Dean Winchester, Hunter Sam Winchester, Hurt Castiel (Supernatural), M/M, Sam Winchester Ships Castiel/Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:28:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28054647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sam4587/pseuds/sam4587
Summary: When Castiel gets hurt on a hunt, it brings out some unexpected reactions in Dean.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 2
Kudos: 108





	Finally

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first fic, so let me know what you think in the comments, I really appreciate constructive criticism! I hope you enjoy!
> 
> You can follow me [here on Tumblr](https://sam4587.tumblr.com)
> 
> Disclaimer: The story is mine, CW Supernatural is not. Please do not repost.

“So, we’re sure it’s a witch?” Dean asks while cocking his gun. He looks over at his brother next to him, also taking the weapons they will need in the coming hour. Sam nods.

“Yes, Dean, we’re sure. I found extra hex bags in the car of the last victim, and that guy that choked on his hamburger had one in the pocket of his coat. At least, that’s where the coroner said they found them. And even though we didn’t find any with that woman, Aya Evans, that doesn’t mean there were none. We probably missed them, or someone took them before we got there. She was the first victim, remember? She was the reason why we came here. The other two died while we were already here, so we could examine those scenes faster.”

Dean looks at his brother sideways after that last addition. “Yes, Sam, I know there were two more dead while we were here. You don’t have to remind me of that every time again.” Sam opens his mouth to go against his brother, but Dean cuts him off by turning to Castiel, who is still sitting in the back seat of the Impala. “Cas, you ready? Or are you just going to stay here while we do all the heavy work?”

Castiel looks over his shoulder at Dean. “No, Dean, I was not planning on staying here. I just didn’t want to interrupt your quarrel with your brother. The experience has taught me that that is not a good idea, most of the time.”

Dean rolls his eyes at Castiel and sighs. “Fine. Then come here and take a gun, too. You’re gonna need one, without your powers.”

There’s a flash in Castiel’s eyes when he hears those words, but he doesn’t react more than that. Dean knows he shouldn’t remind Castiel of his loss of his powers all the time, but he can’t help it. It just slips out. Judging by the elbow from Sam he gets in his stomach, his brother also feels he should choose his words more carefully. Dean sighs heavy and turns around.

"Okay, enough talking. We’re wasting time we don’t have. Let’s go.” Without waiting any longer, he starts walking towards the house at the end of the street, where they know the witch is hiding himself. He hears the soft closing of the trunk of the car behind him, and then the three of them are hiding behind the fence separating the garden of their target house from the street. “Everyone know the plan?” he asks.

“What’s the plan?” Castiel asks, and when Dean looks over at him, he can see it’s actually a genuine question. He smiles.

“Same as always. Don’t die.”

After having said that, he gets up and walks to the front door, leaving the other two no choice but to follow him. He kicks the door down and they spread out, to cover as much ground as possible at once. Dean takes the kitchen and the living room, while Sam and Castiel go upstairs to check the bedrooms there. After a quick sweep of the ground floor, Dean follows them, since there is no one to be found downstairs. But there is also no one upstairs. They gather in the living room of the rather small house.

“Are we too late? Where is he? I thought you said you saw him go home, Cas?” Dean can’t hide his frustration as he fires the questions at his friend. Castiel shrugs innocently.

"Yes, Dean, I saw him leave work and assumed he was coming home. He doesn’t have anywhere else to go, since he murdered all his friends here in town, remember?”

“Well, then maybe the next time, you shouldn’t assume anything anymore. It’s clearly not your strongest game, is it?” Dean wants to continue shitting on Castiel, but he is interrupted by his brother.

“Shut up! I saw light in the shed.” He lift his hand up to catch their attention and points through the window. Immediately, Dean forgets Castiel and his body slips in fight mode. Without making any noise, he goes through the back door, with the other two hunters following him closely. They check the cabin for a second exit, but it only has one door. Dean nods once and then kicks the door in with his foot. Sam and Castiel go inside as soon as they can, each taking a side while Dean goes straight forward. They surprise the witch, who is standing with his back to the door and leaning over a table. Startled, he turns around and his eyes widen slightly when he sees the three big dudes in front of him, each pointing a gun at him.

“It’s over, Carl. There’s nothing you can do anymore, you have nowhere to run to now.” Dean says, lifting his gun a little higher to accentuate his words. He sees the realization doom in the man’s eyes and before he knows what’s happening, Carl has pulled out a knife and planted it between Castiel’s ribs. Dean screams and his attention is completely on Castiel. That gives the witch the chance to slip beside him and exit the hut. Sam follows him, after yelling at Dean to stay with Castiel.

“Take care of him! I’ll follow Carl!”

Dean falls on his knees beside Castiel. “Cas. Cas. Cas! Can you hear me?” He takes Castiel by his shoulders and shakes him, in an attempt to keep him awake. But it doesn’t do any good; Castiel’s eyes turn up in his head and he loses his consciousness after softly whispering Dean’s name.

Dean presses his hand against the stab wound in Castiel’s chest. When he pulls his hand away, it’s covered in blood. “No, no, no, no… Cas… no…” he whispers softly. He takes Castiel’s head in his lap and leans forward, until their foreheads press together, still repeating his name as a mantra that can somehow keep him alive. That’s the position Sam finds him in when he returns to the shed. He puts his hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“Dean. We need to get him to a hospital. Dean!” He says a little louder when his brother doesn’t seem to react to his words. Dean startles and lifts his head up.

“Sam… Yes. Yes, we need to get him help. Yes.” He murmurs. Suddenly, with a goal, he seems to gather himself and he gets up. “Did you get that son of a bitch? I hope you didn’t spare him.” Dean says with a dangerous glance in his eyes. Sam glances at his brother when he sees that, but then he nods. Taking enough with that, Dean turns to Castiel and lifts him up single handedly. Sam doesn’t try to interfere as Dean walks to the Impala and lays Castiel on the back seat and takes the wheel. Sam leans through the window and looks at Dean.

“Go. I’ll take care of the body and meet you at the hospital. Text me the address and the room number.” All Dean does is nod and then, without saying another word, he takes off, driving a lot faster than the speed limit to get Castiel to the hospital.

\----

The first thing he sees when he opens his eyes, is a lot of white. After blinking a few times, Castiel’s vision stabilizes and he groans. Immediately, he hears a body next to him move and someone takes his hand. That someone squeezes lightly and he turns his head on the pillow. Dean’s face fills his sight. When he sees that, Castiel can’t help but smile. Always nice to wake up to that, is the first thing he thinks. He drowns in the green surrounding him for a little while, but then Dean leans back and he starts noticing other things as well. For starters, there’s something in his nose. And his hand feels weird, like there’s something in… oh. He is in a hospital bed, and he’s connected to machines. That’s the thing in his nose; it helps him breathe. Slowly, he starts noticing sounds as well.

“…as? Cas? Cas? Hey, are you there?” Dean takes Castiel’s hand between his own two hands and squeezes, as if that’ll help Castiel focus faster. Actually, it does. His vision clears fully and he hears the beeping of the machines surrounding him. He smiles up at Dean.

“Dean. Hello. Where are we? What happened?”

The relieve is very visible in Dean’s face. His facial muscles clearly relax and he smiles back at Castiel.

“Hey, Cas. You’re in the hospital. The closest I could reach. You were… you were stabbed, man. In the chest. I thought I… I thought I lost you, Cas.” Dean leans forward and, maybe without noticing, pulls Castiel’s hands against his chest. It feels nice, so Castiel is certainly not planning on pointing it out. He tries to sit up a little straighter against the pillows. Dean frowns and opens his mouth, but Castiel is faster.

“It’s okay, Dean, I feel better. I… I’m still here. I’m…” He doesn’t finish his sentence, not sure of the consequences if he does. Instead, he leans back against the pillows and pulls his hands closer to himself. Instead of letting go of his hand, Dean follows the movement and leans closer to Castiel’s face. In order to do that, he has to get up from his chair and sit on the bed, but he doesn’t seem to have a problem with that. After checking shortly with Castiel, he sits down right next to him. Their hands are still intertwined. Castiel looks at their hands and can’t hold a small smile back. He sighs and relaxes, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. Yes, he could sit like this for a while. But it’s not meant to be, apparently.

“Cas! You’re awake! And… comfortable, guys?” Sam barges into the room and smirks at his brother and his friend. Dean startles and lets go of Castiel’s hands immediately, getting up from the bed with his cheeks flushed red.

“Yes, we’re… yes, we… Yes, Cas is awake. Do you have the food?” He asks, not able to look either of them in the eyes. Castiel looks at Dean, then at Sam. When he sees that Sam is also looking at him, he raises his eyebrows. Sam chuckles and holds up the food bags he’s holding.

“Food. Real food, not the crap they give here. You want some?” He asks Castiel, temporarily ignoring his brother. He walks over to the other side of the bed and hands one of the bags over to Castiel, placing the rest on the table underneath the window. Castiel looks briefly at Dean, who is still a little red in the cheeks, but then he focusses on the fries and burger Sam got him. Smiling, he starts eating the burger, after having removed the tubes from his nose.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing? You can’t just decide for yourself when you remove those!” A nurse comes into the room, looking at Castiel like he just committed a federal crime. Not understanding all the fuss, Castiel looks at her and continues eating the burger. The nurse looks at him curiously, but then squeezes her eyes and turns to the machines. She mutters something and then faces Castiel again.

“Okay, you’re fine. Don’t do that again, you hear me?”

Castiel blinks innocently and nods. The nurse looks over at Sam and Dean and sighs. Apparently deciding she won’t be able to tell them anything anyway, she opens the door and leaves without saying another word.

The two brothers sit down at the table together and start eating. For a while, they’re quiet, but once Castiel is done eating, he asks: “How long have we been here? And have we caught the witch?”

Sam looks at Dean and gestures that he should take this. Dean turns to the bed and starts talking with his mouth full.

“We’ve been here two days. You’ve been in surgery, but the knife didn’t do any heavy damage. I still don’t understand why that witch used a normal knife, instead of hexing you. And Sam killed him, by the way.” He adds, in answer to Castiel’s second question. Sam shrugs when Castiel looks at him and continues eating.

“He killed three people and stabbed you.” He says as only explanation, not even looking up from his dinner. Castiel closes his eyes briefly, still not able to accept the loss of another life just like that. Even though he’s been human for some time now, he’s still part angel in his heart, and every creation of his father that is destroyed is a loss to him, no matter how much damage they have done. When he reopens his eyes, Dean is standing beside him, looking down at him.

“Are you okay? What’s the matter?” Castiel asks, a little worried about the look in Dean’s eyes. Dean looks back at Sam and seems to make a decision. He sits down on the bed again and takes Castiel’s hand. He brings it up to his lips and presses them against the back of Castiel’s hand. Castiel startles, but doesn’t pull back, looking Dean in his eyes. Dean looks back at him and leans closer.

“Dean? What-” Castiel doesn’t get the chance to finish his sentence when Dean bridges the remaining distance between them and presses their lips together. Totally forgetting everything else, Castiel sucks in a breath through his nose and kisses Dean back firmly. He pulls his hand from Dean’s and takes his head instead, burying his fingers in Dean’s hair and keeping him close. Dean puts his arms around Castiel and doesn’t let go. When they pull back, they look in each other’s eyes and their foreheads press together. Letting out a deep sigh, Castiel relaxes in Dean’s embrace, lowering his own hands and grabbing Dean’s shoulders.

“I thought I lost you. I thought I was never going to be able to do this.” Dean whispers against his lips, only a breath away. Castiel smiles and kisses Dean again, this time softly and much more gently. He feels Dean breathe out against his lips and his smile widens. Finally.

“Finally!” Sam’s voice breaks the magic of the moment and they both startle away. “Oh, don’t stop because of me! I’ve been waiting for you two knuckleheads to do this since forever!” Before either of them can react, Sam laughs and gets up from the table. Without saying another word, he leaves the room, but before he closes the door, he looks back and taps his nose. He winks and closes the door behind him. For a moment, Castiel and Dean don’t know what to do, but Castiel solves the dilemma by pulling Dean back in and pressing their lips back together.

“Finally.” He echoes Sam, also voicing his own thoughts. Dean’s lips form a smile against his lips and without there being a word said, Castiel knows Dean thinks the same thing.


End file.
